THE CHARMING VIEWS IN THE LAND OF THE RISING SUN

First edition. Folding map, and numerous black and white images from photographs with facing descriptions in English on the opposite page, each with shorter captions beneath in Japanese. Oblong folio, original decorated purple silk-covered boards with titles and decorations in gold embroidery, fine silk-backed endpapers decorated with gold, bound at the spine with white ribbon in Japanese style. 177 ff (unpaginated) Internally a very handsome copy with only very minor age toning, the binding with some repair and restoration and showing some wear. Title-page with a bit of wear, the plates all in very pleasing condition.

Edizione: very scarce and one of the earliest publications of it kind. a fine photographic touring book of japan produced and published by the era’s leading photographer. ogawa (1860-1929) was not only the most accomplished japanese photographer of the period, he was also a printer and publisher. he was a pioneer in photomechanical printing and photography in the meiji era. in 1882, he moved to boston where he took courses in portrait photography and the dry plate process. he also studied collotype printing at the albert type company. returning to japan in 1882, he opened the first photography studio in tokyo.<br> ogawa, in conjunction with the rail authorities, produced these books to promote western tourism in japan. over the course of the following decade he would produce several, but this is among the earliest and is quite scarce.